Journal of Personality Disorders, 26, 2012, 041
© 2012 The Guilford Press
1
This article was accepted under the editorship of Paul S. Links.
From Emergency Department, General Hospital, Montauban, France (L. C.); INSERM, CIC 9302 Tou-
louse, CHU Toulouse, Hôpital Purpan, France (L. C.); Clinic Georges Heuyer, Paris, France (M. J.);
Centre d’Etudes et de Recherches en Psychopathologie, Université Toulouse-II-le Mirail, France (R. R.);
Clinique des Maladies Mentales et de l’Encephale, Hôpital Sainte-Anne, Paris, France (J. D. G., A. P.-S.);
UMR 7593 CNRS, Salpêtrière, Paris (F. P.-D.); Institut Mutualiste Montsouris, Paris, France ( M. C.); and
Inserm U669, Department of Child Psychiatry, Versailles, France (M. S.)
This research was supported by the Wyeth Foundation for Child and Adolescent Health and by the Lilly
Foundation.
Address correspondence to Lionel Cailhol, Centre d’Investigation Clinique, Pavillon Riser, Centre Hos-
pitalier Universitaire Purpan, Place Baylac, TSA 40031, 31059 Toulouse cedex, France; E-mail: cailhol.l@
chu-toulouse.fr.
BPD and mental healthcare service
Cailhol et al.
041
BRIEF REPORT
BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER
AND MENTAL HEALTHCARE SERVICE
USE AMONG ADOLESCENTS
L. Cailhol, MD, PhD, M. Jeannot, MD, R. Rodgers, PhD,
J. D. Guelfi, MD, F. Perez-Diaz, MD, A. Pham-Scottez, MD,
M. Corcos, MD, and M. Speranza, MD, PhD
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is believed to be frequent among ado-
lescents. While several prospective studies have assessed the use of mental
health services among adults who suffer from BPD, few studies have pro-
vided adolescent data. This paper presents findings from the first assessment
point of the European Research Network on Borderline Personality Dis-
order (EURNET BPD) study. In this study, we describe lifetime treatment
utilization for 85 adolescents with BPD (Mean age: 16.3 years old). In line
with adult findings, adolescents with BPD reported greater mental health-
care service use (outpatient: 98%; inpatient: 79%) compared to controls.
Phenothiazine, a sedative neuroleptic, was the most frequently prescribed
treatment. 47% of patients had received psychotherapy; in one our of three
cases this was psychodynamic therapy. Patients who had received psycho-
therapy did not differ on any psychopathological variables from those who
did not receive psychotherapy; however, psychotherapy was more frequent
among females.
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is characterized by a pervasive pattern
of instability in interpersonal relationships, self-image and emotions. Ac-
cording to DSM-IV, BPD diagnosis can be applied to adolescents. Prevalence